This Is Normal Right?
by spacEnigma83
Summary: Normal is far from what this has all been but Emma is trying to figure out what normal is or should be now. This story is a conversation between Emma and Snow that could be set somewhere in early season two. No fluff just words.


She can't help but stare. Ever since she watched her fall into that poppy seed induced sleep it had her mind reeling. What did she see? Was it bad? Was it as bad as she was imagining it was? That fire room of terror everyone kept describing.

If she wasn't wondering about those sleeping curse dreams she would often find herself just "wondering" about the woman in general.

I mean here she was Snow White in the flesh sleeping beside her on the couch of the apartment that she and Mary Margaret once shared but Mary Margaret is no longer here. In her place, as mentioned before, is Snow White napping away like it was a normal occurrence.

They sat down together with the intension of staying up to watch a movie. She noticed Snow nodding off and from then on it was all she could watch.

Snow White was her mother. She could say it to herself a hundred times and it still would not sink in. The fairest of them all. The woman put under by a poisoned apple. "THE" Snow White.

She shifts closer to study her facial features a bit more, something she has tried to do on more than one occasion without getting caught.

Skin as white as Snow. It was true. Why had she not noticed this before? As she examines her for another few seconds she is startled as Snow's eyes pop open.

Snow begins to sit up as Emma sits back, her surprised look does not go unnoticed. "You've been watching me again haven't you?" she asks groggily.

"I... what? No... I wasn't..." Emma defends before realizing she said "Again?"

"I'm not completely oblivious." she smiles.

"I was..." She tries to think of an excuse. "You fell asleep during the movie so I was just... checking to see if you were still asleep?

"That's your excuse now but that doesn't explain why I catch you staring at me any other time... like during dinner last night. What's going on Emma?" She sits up on the couch and waits for Emma to answer.

"Nothing's going on..." She purses her lips and starts looking around the room to think of a way to change subjects.

"Really? You're sure... there's nothing on your mind? Nothing your trying to avoid?" She says trying to reel her in to a conversation while seeking out her eyes for confirmation. A sternly spoken, "Emma", get's her the eye contact she is needing.

"I'm not avoiding anything... It's just that... Okay so..." She lightly smacks her forehead with her hand in frustration. "This is going to be weird... I mean it is weird..." She laughs nervously.

"Look, whatever it is can't be that bad. Just tell me." She smiles earnestly.

"Okay... so a few weeks ago... I never would have guessed that we would be where we are today. I would not have imagined finding my family... _all_ of my family in one place."

"Seems like a pretty normal conclusion... when does this get weird?"

"Well for you it doesn't but for me... It got weird the night of my twenty eighth birthday. It's been a crazy rollercoaster ever since. I mean one minute I'm in Boston celebrating my birthday alone, the next minute I'm driving here to Storybrooke with my long forgotten child that I gave up years ago. I get to know him. He tells me I'm in a storybook. He tells me I'm the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming and that I am the savior who is going to break the curse over the town. I laugh at this. I play along all the same... then... then..." Emma stops speaking and sits silently for a few seconds while smiling and staring off into space.

"Emma?" Snow asks with wide eyes and a slight hint of concern in her voice. She watches and waits for her to continue as she has no idea where this is leading.

"Then I meet the woman my son claims to be my mother, the same person who he claims to be Snow White. I end up becoming a part of her life for some reason. I meet this man who my son is dead certain is my father and the infamous Prince Charming. Do I believe any of this? No. Do I still get to know these people and somehow have them become a part of my life... well yeah sure. That's normal right?

There were plenty "Happy Coincidences" too, like meeting Ruby who Henry explained is Red Riding hood and when she starts to help out at the Sherriff's office and she tracks down David I have to say I was a little freaked. I met Ashley who seemed to have a stepmother and stepsisters like Cinderella which I learned with Henry standing there trying to piece it together for me which, by the way, annoyed me to no end. I met a man who thought he had literally lost his heart. I met a man who thought he was from another realm and wanted me to transport him there with magic. Then of course I met Mr. Gold who had some strange things in common with Rumplestiltzkin. I mean... was I believing all of this? Still no... but Henry did and the last time I called him crazy... well it blew up in my face so I wasn't going to make that mistake again." Emma looks over at Snow to find her smiling from ear to ear.

She looks away with a smile of her own before continuing. "I never questioned Henry. I was so sure that I was living in the real world where things like curses did not exist... where magic was only in movies and fiction, but here we are back in Storybrooke after getting swooped into a magic portal that took me to the fairy tale place of my birth no less. I came face to face with an ogre and watched as once dead corpses rose up to chase us through the forest. I stood in the castle where apparently I was born and might have grown up and then came back home through another magic portal only to find that I have the ability to use some sort of magic that has been inside me this whole time?"

"So... you staring at me has what to do with all of this?" Snow asks putting a hand to Emma's shoulder asking for her attention.

Emma does turn to face her but has this offended facial expression, "If you were not sitting there with the thoughts and memories of Snow White you would understand how completely bizarre this whole conversation has been. How can you be Snow White? How does Snow White even begin to live in the real world _as_ Snow White?"

Snow laughs haughtily, "Snow White is adaptable. She grew up in a Kingdom as a princess and was cast out to live a life hiding in the woods. She fought, she stole, she struggled, she survived, and she faced the Evil Queen several times before a curse finally swept over the land. A stint in the real world is nothing. Not to mention she had a daughter who ultimately broke that curse and awoke her to the realization that in any realm, magic or not, her story would have a Happy Ending."

"I hate to break it to you but Snow White's story is far from over. We have veered way off the path of that simple story of a young maiden and seven dwarves. I keep staring at you because I keep hoping Mary Margaret is gonna pop up and tell me I'm just having a weird reaction to something I ate and all this has just been a hallucination." She smiles brighter still staring off into space. "I swear I'm having to keep myself from poking you to make sure you're real."

Snow laughs and grasps Emma's wrist, "Well I don't know what to tell you. I'm here. I'm in the real world just fumbling along trying to make the most of it but then that's what every other human being in this world is doing... fumbling along."

"Yeah well... I'm not just fumbling. I might have tripped a couple of times." She says but her smile does not falter. "What normal sane person is just able to walk in to this scenario and be okay with it? I just want you to say something like... "_Emma, do you feel strange at all, because I feel the sudden urge to break out into song with the birds"._ I..." She laughs unable to finish her thought.

Snow who had joined in on the laughing matter pauses for a moment to take in the sight of Emma's animated face. "Emma, I know you are not crazy. I know who I am. I know that I lived in a land full of fairies, princes, princesses... and ogres?" They both giggle and sit quietly.

Emma breaks the silence. "I know that this is never really going to be normal. You have your daughter here in front of you who is almost the same age as you now. How are you okay with that?"

"I... I don't really have a choice do I? I just have to accept, adapt, and move on. I've made peace with this. I knew that the only way for us was forward. I know we have missed out on many firsts. I'm not going to rehash that with you, I know you don't like when I do that, but we've had other firsts. I was... well at least as Mary Margaret, I was the first person you let in to your life. I mean you had Henry yes, but then you found me. We had plenty of nice happy moments together that I would not trade for anything in the world." She pauses and instantly her facial expression turns a bit severe, "... and don't think I haven't noticed you not calling me by any name at all. You don't call me Mary Margaret, you don't call me Snow. You don't even call me Mom."

"That's because I don't know what to call you." She waits a moment before she offers, "I can't say that the staring is going to stop. I mean out of every little girl in the world who wished that she could have a fairytale character for a mother I was lucky enough to be the one who actually had that wish come true."

Snow gives a soft smile as she takes Emma's hand. "I noticed you didn't use the word _favorite_... in front of the words _fairytale character,_ but seeing as how that was the most thoughtful thing you've ever said to me I'll overlook it." She says with a grin. "Did you finish the movie?" She asks looking at the television in front of them.

"No. I was too distracted by Snow White sleeping on the couch." She laughs.

"Well... you want to finish it now?"

"No. I like what we're doing... this is normal right?" She asks with a smile. "Please... continue." She says with a fancy hand gesture of her free hand which causes them both to laugh.

They spend the next couple of hours just chatting away. In some ways they are both making up for some lost time between mother and daughter. All the conversations they ever needed to have just come spilling out. For now though things were getting to be normal but then again who is to say what is normal for a fairytale family?

*****I hope there weren't too many disturbing mistakes in this story. I reread this a few times but you can't always catch them. Thanks for reading. I'll be working on my other "stuff" here in fanfic land. Working to improve and trying to keep the creative writing flow I got going.**


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